Minister president (Germany)

The Minister-president (German: Ministerpräsident, pronounced [miˈnɪstɐpʁɛziˌdɛnt] ⓘ) is the head of government in thirteen of Germany's sixteen states.

As such, their powers and functions resemble those of an executive president, but in contrast to a presidential system, they are not directly elected and depend on the confidence of the respective state parliament.

By virtue of their position in the Bundesrat, the Minister-presidents can exert considerable influence on national politics within the federal structure.

Berlin is a special case, as the state constitution there requires the appointment of two equally ranking deputies.

44.3), which designates both the Deputy Minister-president (for internal affairs) and the President of the Landtag (for the external representation) as acting successors.

This is however not the case, if the reason for the resignation is some form of constitutional, legal or traditional incompatibility with an office, on which the resigning office-holder has entered: The Basic Law prohibits the President of Germany from holding office in a state government at the same time (Art.

[18] Normally, such full replacements last only a few days or even a few hours, but there have also been cases in which such acting Minister-presidents have had to remain in office for a longer period because the election of a new regular incumbent had proved difficult; this occurred for example in Schleswig-Holstein in 1987/88: The state election on 13 September 1987 had resulted in a stalemate between the centre-right bloc of CDU and FDP, which supported the incumbent Uwe Barschel, and the centre-left parties SPD and SSW, each with 37 seats.

The SPD emerged from these with an absolute majority of seats and its leading candidate Björn Engholm was elected Minister-president on 31 May.

The office of a minister-president is both highly prestigious in its own right and acts as a potential "career springboard" for German politicians.